TN Zweigelt 2005, Sepp Moser (Austrian red)

Feb 04, 2008 5 Replies

The wine is Zweigelt 2005 from Sepp Moser in the Neusiedlersee region. The back label suggest service with pasta or lamb and slightly chilled at 13-15 C. It comes in a bottle with screw cap.



Zweigelt is a red wine grape developed in 1922 in Austria, by Fritz Zweigelt. It is a hybrid of Blaufränkisch and St. Laurent. Although grown mostly in Austria, a little is grown elsewhere including Canada.



It often is in the style of a Beaujolais, although fuller versions, which I have not had, are supposed to be made also.



This wine reminded me much of a regional Beaujolais. It has deep blue- scarlet color. There is an intense bouquet of grapes, much as in much Beaujolais designed for drinking fairly soon. There is plenty of acid, but little tannin. Perhaps there is a certain spice-herb character in the wine that is different from that in Beaujolais, but I dare say that many would believe you if you told them the wine was a regional Beaujolais. It was of reasonable price, and decent for what it is. At least for my taste, I would not want to serve it with Colorado lamb, which I would consider too rich for this wine. Perhaps it would be better suited for some lambs living in the Alps that get plenty of exercise climbing to keep much of the fat off :-).



I am not a big fan of the lighter styles of Beaujolais, and I doubt if I will drink much of this style of Zweigelt either. It would be interested to try one of the fuller versions of Zweigelt. Perhaps it would be a much better match for Colorado lamb.


JFTMOR: A "hybrid", when talking grape varieties, usually designs a crossing from a vitis vinifera grape with an American grape (vitis labrusca et al.). As both parents are vinifera grapes, the usual term would be "crossing".

M.

Interesting you make the Beaujolais comparison. I was at a blind tasting themed dinner recently where one of our group brought in a bottle of 2001 Schwarz 'W' Zweigelt and most of us immediately thought it was a very good Burgundy at first. It was extremely elegant and showed a lot of bright red fruits (cherry/raspberry), some gamey notes, smoke and spice. Really nice complexity with light/medium body weight and good acid - something I'd definitely like to explore more of.

Cheers,

Salil

Does the Zweigelt you tasted come from Austria or Canada? It would be interesting if some of the several Canadian users of this group report on some of the Zweigelt wines now being made in Canada, if they have tasted any they liked. Zweigelt sometimes goes by other names, even in Austria. There is a brief discussion of Zweigelt and wines made from it at

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It was Austrian. (And a good reminder that I really do need to explore more Austrians. Have had a couple of stunning Prager Smaragd Rieslings in the last year, but haven't delved much beyond that)

Cheers,

Salil

It's Austrian, and it's probably the most unusual wine made from this grape, in a definitive New World style. The wine has three "fathers": Johann "Hans" Schwarz, butcher (and winegrower) in Andau and Podersdorf in Burgenland in the easternmost part of Austria; the late Alois Kracher (good friend of Hans Schwarz) in Illmitz; and Manfred Krankl which all of you know, of course, good friend of Alois Kracher.

Btw, the wine is referred to as "Schwarz Rot" over here, in contrast to the white "Schwarz Weiss". The big "W" is just the label designer part of the producer's name, something like "schWarz".

M.

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